Forbidden City, Wenyuan Pavilion.

Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, had a gloomy face, he had encountered too many things, compared to Chongzhen's three years when he first served as the first assistant of the cabinet, he was even more troubled, the emperor was thinking about dealing with Zheng Xunrui, but he was also not at ease with the main force of the Donglin Party, and even he was not at ease with him, the first assistant of the cabinet.

Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Liu Zongmin, Gu Junen, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, Ai Nengqi and other names have always been churning in Zhou Yanru's mind, as the first assistant of the cabinet, Zhou Yanru knows very well that the biggest danger at present is not Zheng Xunrui, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, but the aggressive rogue.

The strength of the Liukou is claimed to have reached 250,000 people, which is a frightening number, not to mention Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, even if it unites all the forces of Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and Sichuan, it is impossible to completely exterminate the Liukou, some time ago, the Liukou has not moved much, which makes Zhou Yanru feel strange, with such a strong strength of the Liukou, why not act, but now Zhou Yanru understands, it turns out that the Liukou is also accumulating strength, and is also choosing a real breakthrough.

During the Spring Festival, the government is the most slack time, after the spring break, most of the officials have gone home, the same as the guard sergeant to celebrate the Spring Festival, the vast majority of the guard sergeant's family members, are following the side, these sergeants want to have a good Spring Festival.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong chose to launch a sudden attack at this time, which can be described as well-intentioned, which shows that they must succeed and that they have been planning and planning for a long time.

The concerts of Fang Kongzhi, the governor of Huguang, Wu Fu, the governor of Henan, and Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, all went to the cabinet, and after the cabinet discussed and sorted out, some of the twists and turns were also presented to the emperor, but the emperor did not seem to be very concerned about the affairs of the liukou. His attention was still on Nan Zhili, which made Zhou Yanru very helpless.

Yang Sichang, the cabinet minister and the secretary of the Ministry of War, entered the Wenyuan Pavilion, and his face was also not good-looking.

"Lord Yang, tell me if Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have had a private consultation."

Zhou Yanru's opening is this question, which shows that he has carefully analyzed many twists and turns.

Yang Sichang also thought of this problem. They all understood that once some kind of agreement was reached between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, it would not only be Sun Chuanting in great danger, but even the stable situation in Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan would not be maintained, and the imperial court would not only be shocked, but even shaken.

"My lord, Xia Guan has also thought about it carefully, if Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong planned the offensive strategy together. The consequences are worrying. ”

Both were silent at the same time.

They are clear about the situation in the imperial court, and they are also aware of the situation in the cabinet, and all the thoughts of Qian Shisheng and Hou Xun have been put in places such as Nanzhili and Huaibei, especially after Zhang Pu and others took office.

Zhou Yanru attached great importance to the affairs of the Liukou, and Yang Sichang also proposed to pay attention to the wanton plundering of the Liukou, but this view was not recognized, especially the attention of the emperor.

Is it really going to wait for the rogues to make a big deal? Will anyone really pay attention to it?

Zhou Yanru and Yang Sichang don't want such a situation, one of them is the first assistant of the cabinet. One is the secretary of the military department, these are all things they must care about.

After being silent for a while, Zhou Yanru spoke again.

"Lord Yang, this official feels that the matter of the resurgence of the Liukou must be highly valued by the imperial court. If all parties can't pay attention to it, it is very likely that there will be a big problem, Li Zicheng besieged Nanyang Fucheng, Zhang Xianzhong besieged Xiangyang Fucheng, if the two Fucheng were taken by Liukou at the same time. It will inevitably stimulate the madness of the rogues, and the next situation will not be easy to deal with. ”

After Zhou Yanru finished speaking, Yang Sichang immediately spoke.

"What my lord said is that the lower officials think that the matter of the re-rise of the rogues must be reported to the emperor, and it is necessary to make a detailed analysis of how the situation may develop, only in this way can the emperor and the court pay attention to it."

"Lord Yang, how do you think you should report to the emperor?"

"Xiaguan is most worried that the Liukou captured the city of Xiangyang, and even controlled the entire Xiangyang Mansion, so the situation is a little troublesome, Xiangyang and Henan Nanyang Mansion, Runing Mansion adjacent, once the Liukou takes root here, the north can control and threaten Henan, Shanxi and other places, the west threatens Sichuan, the south threatens Guizhou and Guangdong and other places, the east can restrict Jiangxi and Nanzhili and other places, if the Liukou occupy Xiangyang Mansion, Xiangyang is the land of fish and rice, the supply of Liukou can be basically guaranteed, and it can also take advantage of the situation to develop and grow, At that time, if you want to clean up the situation, I am afraid that it will be possible to mobilize the army of Beizhili. ”

Zhou Yanru looked at the map and spoke again coldly.

"Do you think it's possible for the Zheng family army to go out again to exterminate the rogue?"

Yang Sichang was stunned for a moment, and spoke without thinking.

"Impossible, under such a situation, the Zheng family army will not have any action, the Zheng family army is now in Nanjing, Huaibei, Shaanxi, Penglai and Fuzhou and other places, there is no threat of rogue in these places, especially Shaanxi, it has been stable for so many years, Xia Guan thinks that in such a situation in the DPRK and China, Lord Zheng will never send Zheng Jiajun to exterminate the rogues."

"Yes, when Zhang Pu and the others arrived in Huaibei, I'm afraid that Lord Zheng's attention will also be focused on this aspect, as for the rogues in Huguang and Henan, it will not become the focus of Lord Zheng's attention."

Yang Sichang opened his mouth, but the words did not come out.

Qianqing Palace.

There was no expression on the emperor's face, listening to Zhou Yanru and Yang Sichang's report on the wanton plundering of the Liukou.

The report was mainly based on Zhou Yanru, and Yang Sichang only supplemented it at the appropriate time.

Yang Sichang has always paid attention to the emperor's expression, speaking of which he has the emperor's great trust, when the first assistant of the cabinet Zhang Zhifa was dismissed, the emperor intended to let him serve as the second assistant of the cabinet, but Yang Sichang politely refused, he knew very well his status in the cabinet, he did not have such high qualifications, and he reluctantly went to serve as the second assistant of the cabinet, I am afraid that the gains outweigh the losses.

After Zhou Yanru became the first assistant to the cabinet, Yang Sichang was keenly aware of the change in the emperor's attitude, especially after the Zheng Jiajun defeated the Houjin Tartars and the Han army led by Dolgon, the emperor didn't seem to trust the cabinet very much, on the contrary, the eunuchs around the emperor were valued, and many times they were even able to make decisions on behalf of the emperor.

This was not a good situation, during the weather years, the emperor completely trusted the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, and as a result, the court situation was chaotic, and the civil and military ministers opposed Wei Zhongxian, and a large number of capable officials resigned and returned home.

After all, Zheng Xunrui is still the crown prince, the right capital of the imperial history, and the Nanjing military department is still the book, no matter what, Zheng Xunrui cannot directly rebel, and the changes of the Liukou may affect the stability of the court.

Zhou Yanru and Yang Sichang finally finished speaking, and the two analyzed in detail the next move of the Liukou riots, pointing out that the Liukou is likely to focus on Xiangyang Mansion, gradually occupy Runing Mansion and Nanyang Mansion in the north, encroach on other Fuzhou counties in Huguang in the south, and it is possible to drive straight into Sichuan in the west, not to mention whether the Liukou have such a large climate and whether they can completely occupy these places, but once the spatial location of the Liukou's activities increases, it will be difficult for the imperial court to exterminate them in a short period of time.

The rogues are greedy, every time they occupy a city, they are crazy looting, killing the officials of the prefecture and county, the scholars and the merchants, plundering the money, which is a great harm and damage to the locality, once the rogues evacuate, the city is dilapidated and withered, the court and the local government have to find a way to relieve, without exception to exempt the local taxes, which will lead to a significant reduction in the taxes of the imperial court, and the money can not be taken out to exterminate the rogues.

Once such a vicious circle is formed, it is likely to lead to the gradual growth of the power of the rogues.

Some of Zhou Yanru and Yang Sichang's analysis is not unreasonable, but unfortunately Zhu Youzhen can't listen to it at this time, he mainly considers the affairs of Nanjing and Huaibei, including Shaanxi, Penglai and Fuzhou and other places, originally this adjustment, Zhu Youzhen planned to directly replace the candidate for the governor of Shaanxi, but after thinking about it carefully, he did not move, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are two gangsters, he can't completely ignore them, if the governor of Shaanxi is adjusted at this critical moment, so that the situation in Shaanxi is also turbulent, then the liukou will take advantage of the weakness and enter Shaanxi, Therefore, under the current situation, Shaanxi cannot move and must maintain stability.

The imperial court circulated that the number of troops of the Liukou reached as many as 200,000, Zhu Youzhen did not believe it at all, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were not immortals, how could they recruit so many soldiers in such a short period of time, even the imperial court could not do this, could it be that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong could do it.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to dispatch the Zheng family army to exterminate the Liukou, but he couldn't say this, so he finally made his attitude clear, so that all the civil and military ministers in the court began to alienate Zheng Xunrui, and at this time directly gave Zheng Xunrui an order, asking him to lead the Zheng family army to exterminate the Liukou, so that the Manchu Dynasty civil and military ministers would see it.

"Zhou Aiqing, Yang Aiqing, I know about this wanton plunder, I will see the cabinet to discuss it, come up with a way to deal with it, and after it is presented, I will approve it, and then I will handle it accordingly."

Zhu Youzhen responded to Zhou Yanru and Yang Sichang in a few short sentences.

When he walked out of the Qianqing Palace, Zhou Yanru's face turned pale, and Yang Sichang lowered his head and sighed continuously, they all felt disappointed, didn't the emperor understand that the matter of Liukou was brought to the cabinet to discuss, it was still the same old thing, nothing could be discussed, and what was delayed in the end was time, you must know that Huguang, Henan and Sun Chuanting were all waiting for the decision of the imperial court.

The two knew that the emperor must have thought that Xiangyang Mansion was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was known as the title of Xiangyang, which was known as the iron fight, and it was impossible to take it according to the strength of the Liukou, but the current situation is different.

"My lord, do your best to see the will of heaven, and the lower officials can only say this."

Zhou Yanru sighed heavily and didn't say anything. (To be continued......)